James Thuo Gathii

Guest Author

James T. Gathii is Professor of Law and Wing-Tat Lee Chair in International Law at Loyola University Chicago School of Law.

A graduate of the University of Nairobi, Kenya, and Harvard Law School, Professor Gathii sits on the board of editors of the American Journal of International Law, the Journal of African Law and the Journal of International Trade Law and Policy, and on the Advisory Board of the International Journal of Constitutional Law, among others. He is also a founding editor of AfronomicsLaw, a blog on International Economic Law Issues as they relate to Africa and the Global South and the African Journal of International Economic Law.

Professor Gathii’s research and teaching interests are in Public International Law, International Trade Law, Third World Approaches to International Law, (TWAIL), Comparative Constitutionalism and Human Rights as well as Business Law. He is an Independent Expert for the Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment, and Human Rights Violations in Africa formed by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. He is also an expert member of the Working Group on Agricultural Land Investment Contracts of the International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDRIOT). He has sat as an arbitrator in international commercial arbitrations hosted by the Permanent Court of Arbitration. He is an elected member of the International Academy of International Law. He has consulted for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, (OHCHR), and the Economic Commission for Africa, (ECA), among others.

Professor Gathii is widely published in the areas of Public International Law, International Trade Law, International Human Rights and speaks extensively on these topics both in the United States and abroad. His books include: “African Regional Trade Agreements as Legal Regimes” (Cambridge University Press, 2011, Paperback 2013); “War, Commerce and International Law” (Oxford University Press, 2010); and “The Contested Empowerment of Kenya’s Judiciary, 2010-2015: A Historical Institutional Analysis” (Sheria Publishing House, 2016); and an edited collection, “The Performance of Africa’s International Courts” (Oxford University Press, 2020). He is currently writing a book on Third World Approaches to International Law and finishing another on Company Law in Kenya. His forthcoming edited volume is: “The Performance of Africa’s International Courts: Using Litigation for Political, Legal, and Social Change” (Oxford University Press, 2020). In addition to his books, Professor Gathii has authored over 90 articles and book chapters.